Chapter 181: This Advisor Wasn't as Bloodthirsty as Imagined

Over the past two days, the major intelligence cultivators of Bianliu County had only one piece of explosive news circulating among them.

It was news concerning Advisor Yan of the Wei Faction on South Main Street.

Any rumor with Advisor Yan's name attached to it would skyrocket in value.

After all, there was simply too much mystery surrounding the man.

First, he was human.

That alone was incredibly rare.

Who had ever seen a human serve as an advisor to a major faction in Bianliu County?

In all these years, it was completely unheard of.

Second, he worked under Wei Nantian.

This was another massive anomaly.

Everyone knew that working under Wei Nantian was no easy task.

Violent, stubborn, unreasonable, and utterly unhinged...

These were the labels attached to Wei Nantian.

Yet this human advisor specifically chose Wei Nantian. Why was that?

No one could say for sure.

Finally, and most importantly, he had wiped out Wanhua Fang.

Even though Wanhua Fang had declined following the Luo Family's downfall, a starved camel was still bigger than a horse. Outsiders knew that Wanhua Fang had a bodyguard—an old lover of Mu Ruyan—whose body had undergone an extremely high degree of mutation, bringing him incredibly close to the Third Tier.

Yet the establishment had been silently wiped out without making so much as a splash.

The implications of this terrified everyone who dared to think too deeply about it.

Spread entirely by word of mouth, the image of Advisor Yan—who had barely shown his face in public—had become completely distorted.

Some intelligence cultivators claimed to have seen him on East Street, describing him as a hulking brute who was completely mutated, his limbs transformed into thick, blade-tipped tentacles.

Others claimed to have seen him on South Street, followed closely by a child whose face was filled with terror, seemingly coerced into tagging along.

...

...

Amid all these rumors, the most panicked were naturally the factions on South Main Street.

Blessing Road.

Inside a dilapidated shack.

Before the sky even lightened, Dagai sat up in bed, his face pale with exhaustion.

This was the third consecutive night he hadn't slept well. He simply... couldn't fall asleep.

Beggar Cultivators couldn't live in luxury, or it would damage their cultivation base. As a result, he always slept on a wooden plank bed in a mud shack, wearing tattered clothes.

But these past few days, not even his beloved wooden bed could bring him peace.

"Damn it, what the hell is that lunatic trying to do..."

He glanced at the cracked bronze mirror he had scavenged for his table. The reflection staring back at him barely looked human anymore.

Though he had always been incredibly scruffy, the thick bloodshot lines in his eyes and his wild stubble made him feel like his life was truly over.

He really wasn't going to survive these seven days.

On the very day Wanhua Fang was exterminated, he finally understood what Wei Nantian wanted. Clutching that County Magistrate Ballot, he had rushed all the way to Wanhua Alley.

He was supposed to leave the item under the third stone brick, according to their agreement.

But what had he seen...

He had seen the ground littered with severed limbs!!!

Immediately after, he received news of Wanhua Fang's complete annihilation.

The sheer terror had left him drenched in a cold sweat on the spot.

In the end, he had no choice but to hand the item directly to Wei Nantian.

And that very night, he received another piece of Embroidery from Mei Changfeng...

"This is the fate of Wanhua Fang."

"Think carefully about what you should do."

What should he do?

He should ascend to the Fourth Tier and kill both you, the young master of the Mei Family, and Wei Nantian!

Oh, right... and that dog of an advisor!

Now, he had to endure Advisor Yan and his men searching his place every day, receive Mei Changfeng's Embroidery every night, and spend the rest of his time stressing over the next day's search...

"Damn it, damn it, damn it!!!"

Dagai couldn't help but curse.

He stepped out of his door, hoping to get a breath of fresh air.

And then...

He saw Yan Jing.

!!

"What was Beggar Master Huang muttering to himself inside his room just now?"

Yan Jing smiled faintly.

"Your house doesn't seem very soundproof."

"N-no, nothing. I was just talking to myself."

Dagai forced a sycophantic smile as he rushed forward to greet him.

"My mother, my mother hasn't been in good health lately."

"Did you come alone today, advisor?"

"Just me."

Yan Jing smiled.

"And what brings the advisor here..."

Yan Jing chuckled.

"Commander Wei was very pleased with the ballot Beggar Master Huang handed over a few days ago..."

"But excluding the one Beggar Master Huang handed in, there are still about nine ballots out there."

"Excluding the one the theater claims they lost, that leaves eight."

"The one from Wanhua Fang was likely taken by Mechanism Alley Entrance, so that doesn't count."

"In other words, there are eight ballots out there right now, and we only have one on hand. This has made Commander Wei very anxious. He wants to gather a few more ballots, so I was wondering if Beggar Master Huang might know where we could find them?"

Dagai froze, then immediately pleaded in a panic:

"T-this... Blessing Road only had one ballot, advisor. I swear, there was only one..."

He frantically turned his torn pockets inside out to prove his innocence.

Yan Jing smiled and reached out to stop Dagai.

"I don't think Beggar Master Huang understands what I mean. Didn't you say you were Commander Wei's man when you visited a few days ago?"

"So, Commander Wei needs to put his men to use."

"The Heaven Stealing Sect... I heard they have a ballot over there..."

Dagai's expression instantly changed as he finally understood Yan Jing's intent.

No wonder Yan Jing hadn't brought any men with him today. It turned out the ones doing the fighting were going to be Dagai's people.

"What's wrong? Is Beggar Master Huang unwilling?"

Yan Jing asked with a smile.

"I am willing! How could I not be?!"

Dagai nodded vigorously.

"It is a blessing for Blessing Road to serve Commander Wei."

"But this Heaven Stealing Sect..."

He lowered his voice. "I hear their leader, Heaven Stealer, isn't easy to deal with."

"That guy is supposedly Old Monkey's disciple. He once ate a bowl of wontons at Old Monkey's place and made a boastful remark, only to have everything he owned stolen until he was left with nothing but his underwear."

"He refused to accept defeat and went back every day. Gradually, fewer and fewer of his belongings were stolen."

"In the end, he finally managed to leave without losing a single thing. Because of that, Old Monkey took him in as a disciple—and his most prized disciple at that."

"Old Monkey is the one at the wonton shop?" Yan Jing asked.

Dagai nodded.

"The former head of the Thieves Sect."

"What a touching story."

Yan Jing sighed in admiration.

"Touching my ass, advisor."

Dagai whispered softly:

"After the Luo Family fell from grace, the factions beneath them—the Thieves Sect, Wanhua Fang, and our Blessing Road—were all suppressed. Every one of us was pushed to the brink. We only had two choices back then: disband, or submit to another family."

"At the time, the three of us agreed to disband and rebuild in secret. But who knew that bitch Mu Ruyan would use some underhanded method to kill the Third Tier star of Wanhua Fang, seize power, and defect to someone else."

"In the end, she joined forces with that very disciple and severed Old Monkey's hand. Old Monkey was devastated, and the disciple only let him live because he was crippled."

"Since then, the Thieves Sect was gone, replaced by the Heaven Stealing Sect."

"And that disciple changed his name to Heaven Stealer. In less than half a year, he advanced to the Third Tier."

Yan Jing listened, then nodded.

"Understood!"

Dagai felt a surge of joy.

"You get it now, right? The Heaven Stealing Sect isn't easy to mess with. We should take our time and plan—"

"That Heaven Stealer is a traitorous scum who turned on his own master!!!"

Yan Jing's face was completely serious.

"Huh??"

Dagai stared at Yan Jing.

Yan Jing raised his right hand, looking filled with righteous fury.

"In all my years, the thing I, Yan Jing, have always hated the most is this kind of cunning, treacherous, and utterly shameless scum!!!"

"Huh????"

Dagai looked at Yan Jing in pure shock.

"A man like this must be killed!!"

Yan Jing finished, then bowed to Dagai with clasped hands.

"I'm leaving this to Beggar Master Huang!!!"

"Heh, hehe, alright... I-I definitely won't fail my mission."

Dagai offered a smile that was uglier than a crying face, returning the bow.

Before long, a ragged, foul-smelling group of Beggar Cultivators lazily fell into formation. At Yan Jing's command, they marched aggressively toward the western end of South Main Street.

Along the way, Dagai figured the whole situation out perfectly.

Even in a fight, there was a difference between a real battle and a fake one.

Throwing away his life for Wei Nantian? Only an idiot would do that.

Fortunately, the thing Beggar Cultivators were best at was making a lot of noise with very little impact.

Many of their abilities were nothing more than empty bluffs.

It all came down to whether he could fool the man walking beside him.

He looked at Yan Jing, finally pressing his lips together as his gaze hardened.

He refused to believe this man had wiped out Wanhua Fang entirely on his own.

There had to be some hidden reasons behind it.

This was the intuition he had cultivated over years of leading a faction.

This man shouldn't be as terrifying as the rumors made him out to be.

...

Soon enough, the group charged into an alleyway off South Main Street.

The alley looked completely ordinary.

There were people running stalls, washing clothes, painting, selling food... Everyone sat outside their shops, minding their own business.

There didn't seem to be anything wrong at all.

But this was Bianliu County. When there was no problem, that was the biggest problem of all.

This alley split off from the main road at a fork that was incredibly easy to misidentify, running parallel to South Main Street.

If someone new to South Main Street avoided the seemingly deserted main road in favor of this bustling, lively alley...

By the time they walked from one end to the other, every last belonging on their body would be stolen.

They might even lose half their soul along the way.

Seeing the armed group approach, someone in the alley glanced up, instantly recognized the people from Blessing Road, and sparked a wave of murmurs.

Yan Jing pulled out an old, non-electric copper megaphone and announced:

"Listen up, members of the Heaven Stealing Sect!!"

"We're here for the County Magistrate Ballot!"

"Hand over the ballot, and you live!!!"

"Otherwise!!!"

He paused, took a deep breath, and bellowed:

"Beggar Master Huang is going to take action!"

???

Dagai's eyes widened as he stared at Yan Jing.

To his surprise, Yan Jing didn't even look at him. He just started counting down:

"Five!! Four!! Three!!"

By the time he hit three, someone stepped forward.

It was a man disguised as a barber, his face sinking darkly.

"The Heaven Stealing Sect isn't a place you can just barge into. If you really want to talk, send Wei Nantian!!!"

"Now, all of you quietly walk from this end of Heaven Stealing Alley to the other."

"Otherwise, when the person we support becomes County Magistrate, none of you will make it out alive!!!"

Weird energy surged around the man, revealing his true form. Strikingly, a third hand sprouted from his back, swaying gently from side to side.

This was the signature mutation of a Thief Cultivator. Based on the swaying speed of the third hand, one could roughly gauge their cultivation level.

Right now, the large hand on the man's back swayed fast enough to leave a trail of afterimages in the air, marking him as a highly skilled Second Tier cultivator, rapidly approaching the Third Tier.

He was undoubtedly one of the top figures within the Heaven Stealing Sect.

Dagai stole a glance at Yan Jing.

Blocked at the very entrance, he wanted to see what this allegedly god-like advisor would do.

To his sheer disbelief, Yan Jing pulled an apple out of nowhere and started casually munching on it.

What did that mean? Was he waiting for Dagai to make a move?

Just as I thought, he isn't as bloodthirsty as the rumors say...

With that thought, he breathed a small sigh of relief.

He was just about to step forward and put on a show.

The next instant, his eyes blew wide open.

Surging like a tidal wave, weird energy erupted from Yan Jing's body, transforming into a dense, pitch-black fog.

Amid the rolling fog, Yan Jing's figure shifted, warping into the faint silhouette of a terrifying monster. Wretched screams erupted from behind him, sweeping through the entire alley.

Under everyone's stunned gazes, Yan Jing took a single step and shot forward. A Thorn Spear instantly materialized in his hand, flashing across the sky like a bolt of black and white lightning.

It thrust straight through the opposing man's chest!!

Blood erupted like a geyser!!!

Splattering across the ground.